Names of elderly pair in car/house crash released

POLICE have revealed the names of an elderly Yamba couple injured when their car crashed into a farmhouse at Southgate.

Sergeant Adam Brown said the couple, Patrick and Thelma Donnelly are both in stable conditions at the Princess Alexandria Hospital in Brisbane.

He said Mr Donnelly, 89, who was driving, had an unstable back fracture and his wife had internal chest injuries.

They were flown from the crash scene on Tuesday straight to Brisbane.

Police at the scene said the couple's Toyota Yaris was second in a line of three cars heading toward Grafton going around the bend just off the Tarrant Bridge.

Inspector Murray Gillett said it appeared car three attempted to overtake the two cars in front, then car two attempted to overtake.

He said it seemed cars two and three clipped each other and car two speared off to the left, crashing through a farm fence, smashing through a section of cyclone fence surrounding the house before slamming into the brick corner pylon of the raised house.